HAUNTED PRINCE by DENIS DANIEL (children's ebooks free online txt) 📕

For the second time Ashley came yelling in my room. I jumped out of the bathtub and I felt like I was freezing. I didn’t know why I didn’t notice it sooner, I guess I enjoyed sleeping in it a little too much. But I was freezing and all the thrill of enjoying cold water was gone.

I went to the shower and switched warm water, not that I necessarily needed a shower since I slept in water all night. It was to warm me up a little or else I felt like I was going to freeze to death. But apart from suffering frostbite my mind was quite refreshed and it was totally worth freezing for. For once I felt like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders, almost liberating.

I didn’t have much time though, I let the hot water wash over me and after couple seconds I was warm enough. I rushed out of the bathroom and got myself dressed for school before Ashley comes back and yell the hell out of me.

Sadly the warmth didn’t last, right after putting in my brown shirt and dark blue jeans trousers the cold came back. It was so cold I started trembling. I didn’t want mom and Ashley to find out but it didn’t seem possible. So, I kept trembling and I took my warmest hood and put it on,

“Steven, I swear.” Ashley barged in yelling, but her expression changed instantly after seeing me, “hey what’s wrong.” She rushed to me after seeing me clutching my arms to my chest.

“It’s not a big deal. It’s just a little cold.”

“But you were okay last night.” She sounded surprised,

“Maybe it was collecting itself inside, or maybe I caught a bacteria or something.”

“If you want to call in sick it is okay, mom can take me to school.”

“No, I can still walk and drive. Like I said it’s not a big deal.” I didn’t want to stay home I would go crazy. School was my hell but I was used to it unlike living inside my head for a whole day. That would definitely drive me crazy.

“Okay, but you have to hurry up. We are going to be late.”

I put on my shoes and followed her downstairs where I found her finishing her breakfast. I sat by the table and joined her and she gave me this look, which she always gave when we ran late.

“Where is mom?”

“Did you think she will sit waiting for you?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Can we go now?”

She looked at me bored like she wanted to carry me or something. I took a last gulp of my milk and carried my backpack together with my car keys leading the way to the garage. And within one minute I was racing through school.

“You know I would like to get to school alive, right?” she asked looking at me.

“I thought you didn’t want to be late.” I said sarcastically,

“Better late than dead, besides I have lots of plans it will be sad if I would die before fulfilling them.” She was too serious almost like she meant it.

I didn’t know if she was referring to what we talked about previous night or not, but I was relieved to know that she was actually thinking of her own life. Even though it was a little harder imagining Ashley’s plans without me in them. I chose to have faith that this time she actually did.

We got to school a little bit late, but it didn’t matter because it wasn’t like this was the first time I walked through the entrance late. Ashley rushed to her classes and I went to mine, but before I got to class I bumped into the principal I think he was swooping the hallways to see if anyone was roaming around. It’s a good thing it was just me since he didn’t show any sign of surprise.

“Steven Adams, I should’ve known I will see you here.” He said staring me down right after standing an inch away from me.

“I’m sorry sir, it won’t happen again.” I sounded a little bit too nervous than I wanted.

“You better make sure that happens.” Then he dismissed me and kept walking down the hall.

And I kept going on my way to math class and this teacher didn’t like me one bit. I made him hate me even more when I was late in his class. It’s not like I had a choice and even if I had a choice I couldn’t possibly prefer coming early. I don’t think his hate was academic related though because I had good grades in my math. I think he had the same belief as everyone, so I never gave him that much thought either. I barged in and sat next to Lexi who didn’t bother talking to me for the whole week and there was a day she didn’t come to school.

She looked at me and flashed me a half smile and her interest in me was gone.

Honestly speaking I expected more from her since she tried so hard to be my friend coupled weeks ago. Maybe I exaggerated her interest in me, realizing that made me push the thought out of my mind. And tried to endure the rest of the time because of the boring style of teaching of Mr. Faye.

I was relieved when it was finally time for lunch. I felt like all these school stuffs were smothering me. Every single class bored me and the only thing I wanted was to get out. My body was itching for something else, something I didn’t know what it was.

I sat at my table which I was so fond of, almost felt like my only friend and drank my juice. And guess who came to join me in my solitary, Lexi. She sat on the other side of the table without looking or saying a word to me. My guess was that she was already affected with my poison. Since she tried so hard to get close to me no one wanted her around anymore, just like me. But I told her from the start that no one who gets involved with me has a very good end, but she wouldn’t listen and now it was too late.

“Hi.” I greeted her.

“Hi.” She replied,

“I thought you were done with me.”

“Yah, I sort of was,” Now she looked straight at me.

“What changed?”

“Giving up on you so easily won’t be right for you,” she said.

“What are you talking about?” I asked confused now. I was feeling sorry for her at first but I started to regret that, because she was the same girl who wanted something from me.

“Steven, I know it’s not you who killed all those people.” She sounded sincere like she actually meant what she said.

“What makes you think that?” I was shocked for a second,

“Because I’ve looked into your eyes and you are no killer.”

“You don’t know anything about me,” and I meant that literally; hell! I didn’t even know myself. I got up to leave but she pulled my hand.

“I can help you find the real killer, if you let me.” That offer was intriguing but I had to think things through.

From the moment I left there and even after school I kept thinking on the possibilities that she was actually telling the truth. That she actually believed I was innocent and that she wanted to help me. But how could she be so sure that I was innocent, and not to forget she was just a high school student. What did she know about murder investigation?

When I was in the car with Ashley she shot me one of those concerned looks of hers and I brushed it off by saying I was fine. I knew she didn’t buy it but since she promised to live her own life for now, she didn’t ask anything and I was relieved. She even told me that on Friday one of her friends was going to have a party at her house. She didn’t show that much interest though.

But even if she wanted to go mom was going to be hard to convince to let her go, but I knew after talking some sense into her and the whole concept of being a teenager, I knew she would barge. I had to make it happen for Ashley. But I had to wait to see how things were going to turn up first, if Ashley would still want to or thinking of going to the party tomorrow.

After dinner I went to my room and after doing my homework, I went back to thinking about Lexi and her proposal. What made her think she could help me? Who did her think she was, CSI or something? I never met that many people but I knew that girl didn’t fit in the category of normal people. She had too many phases, a normal person isn’t supposed to have so many personalities. If she could read people and so did I.

How could I trust her to help me if I didn’t know which one of those personalities was the real her? How was I supposed to know if she really believed I was innocent? That she wasn’t playing me just to get close to me by telling me what I wanted to hear? Because not even I knew if I was truly innocent with everything that was happening with my body.

Like the way I was preparing the bathtub for bed while normal people prepare actual bed. And I remembered when the sheriff said something about experiencing something out of the ordinary. There was so many times I wanted to believe that, but believing that would change everything. I would need to look for evidences that I was actually experiencing something.

I was trying to keep myself from going insane and giving in to that idea would definitely bring me closer to insanity, so I decided to leave that idea out. I was still bothered with what Lexi told me. I didn’t know if I should let her or not. What could she do the police couldn’t or haven’t done yet? She gave me until tomorrow to give her the answer. And the answer will determine if she will still hang out with me or if she will never bother me again.

My instinct wanted me to tell her to stay as far away from me as possible for her own safety, but she made an offer I couldn’t just refuse. I didn’t care who she was, if she was who she said she was that would be good. And if she wasn’t that didn’t matter as long as she was willing to help me I was okay with it. It’s not like I would know where to start on my own anyway, and even if I wanted to do it myself I didn’t think I was anywhere near succeeding. So finally I reached a decision which I wasn’t so proud with but it was necessary. I just hoped it wasn’t going to end with another person dying on my account.

“Hey,” Ashley called from the door.

“Hey, I thought you were already